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Washington, D.C.—President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) today called congressional action federalizing airport security employees “a step forward,” but expressed her disappointment and concern that the full range of conditions of employment for these workers would be at the sole discretion of a political appointee, rather than subject to federal civil service laws.

Under the legislation, airport security workers “would not necessarily have the same benefits and rights as other federal employees,” Kelley said. “I would expect this yet-to-be-named Transportation Department Undersecretary to follow closely our nation’s civil service laws, but I am concerned about the degree of discretion on these matters.”

A “significant part of the problem has been recruiting and retaining quality employees because of low pay and poor benefits,” Kelley said. According to the General Accounting Office (GAO), the turnover rate among security screening employees averaged 126 percent at the nation’s 19 largest airports in the year ending April 30, 1999, and rose to more than 200 percent at five airports, Kelley said, noting that “the turnover rate among political appointees similar to the new Undersecretary of Transportation is not that much different.”

She added: “Uncertainty about both the nature and degree of your rights and working conditions is hardly the way to generate stability.”

Throughout the debate on this issue, it has been clear, Kelley said, that the public “wants and appreciates the dependability and professionalism” of federal employees to help make them safe when they travel by air. “The idea was to bring to airport security the accountability to the public that comes with federal employment,” the NTEU leader said.

The leader of the nation’s largest independent union of federal workers said the answer to airport security issues “is full federalization” of the security staffs at these facilities. “That is not only what the public wants, it is what the public needs for its safety.”

At the same time, Kelley emphasized the importance of providing adequate funding to provide airport security employees with “all appropriate and necessary training” and to run the security program “in a manner worthy of the trust of the American people.” She called these steps “essential.”

NTEU represents some 150,000 employees in 25 agencies and departments. Kelley has been one of the leading advocates of federalizing the airport security-screening program, citing it as one more example of the dangers both to the government and the taxpaying public of contracting out vital services and programs to the private sector.

The NTEU leader said that, time and again, given adequate resources and training, “federal employees have demonstrated their ability to get their jobs done in a thoroughly professional manner, and I am confident they will prove it again in this vital instance.”